Gov. Pete Ricketts began his Saturday by surveying storm damage in Bayard, and then flew by helicopter to Plattsmouth, where many are still without power and have much to clean up.

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 11:34 AM CDT Jun 18, 2017

Hide TranscriptShow Transcript

WEBVTT OUTH WHERE MANYARE WITHOUT POWER AND HAVE MUCHTO CLEAN UP.REPORTER: THE GOVERNOR LANDINGAT THE MUNICIPAL AIRPORT ONSATURDAY, GETTING A BIRDS EYEVIEW OF THE DESTRUCTION.>> WE SAW GRAIN SILOS THAT WERECOLLAPSED, A CAMPER ON ITS SIDE.GARAGES COLLAPSED.AND TREES ON HOUSES.A LOT OF POWER LINES WERE DOWN.REPORTER: 2700 PEOPLE WITHOUTPOWER LAST NIGHT AND THE NUMBERIS NOW AROUND 330.THEY ARE WORKING AROUND THECLOCK TO RESTORE THE POWER, BUTIT COULD BE 4-5 DAYS BEFORE ITIS BACK ON.AND SOME HOUSES HIT BY TREES.TREES CRACKED IN HALF AND ON THEGROUND.>> LAST NIGHT WAS PROBABLY THEMOST SEVERE OUTBREAK OF STORMSWE HAVE HAD.REPORTER: THEY STARTED FIRING ONJUNE 12 AND CONTINUED LAST NIGHTNEAR THE METRO, WHICH IS WHYNEMA IS TREATING IT AS ANEXTENDED WEATHER TIME.EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALSSTILL ASSESSING THE DAMAGE ANDCOSTS TO PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTUREBEFORE REQUESTING A FEDERALDISASTER DECLARATION.UNTIL THEN, COMMUNITIES CONTINUETO CLEAN UP.>> IF YOU LOOK AT WHAT NEBRAKANSDO, THEY REALLY PULL TOGETHERWHEN THERE'S A DISASTER LIKETHIS.

Gov. Ricketts surveys storm damage in Plattsmouth

Gov. Pete Ricketts began his Saturday by surveying storm damage in Bayard, and then flew by helicopter to Plattsmouth, where many are still without power and have much to clean up.

Related Content

"We saw grain silos that had collapsed, we saw a camper that was on its side," Ricketts said. "We saw garages that were collapsed, houses and barns with trees that had collapsed on them. A lot of power lines down."

Nebraska Public Power District said 2,700 people in the Plattsmouth area were without power Friday after the storms. Saturday, NPDD restored power to all but 438.

Crews continue to work around the clock to fix downed power lines, but people in the Buccaneer Bay neighborhood said it could be four to five days before they get their power back.

Plattsmouth city officials said Saturday that more than 50 homes have significant storm damage, with trees on top of houses, some trunks cracked in half and entire trees uprooted.

"(Friday) night was probably the most widespread and most severe outbreak of storms that we had," said Nebraska Emergency Management agency director Bryan Tuma. "The tree debris is pretty extensive in a lot of -- just about the eastern half of the state."

The storms started up in western Nebraska on June 12 and continued Friday night in and around the Metro. As a result, Tuma said NEMA is treating the situation as an extended weather period. According to Tuma, 16 tornado warnings were issued in Nebraska since Monday.

Emergency management officials are still assessing the damages and cost to public infrastructure before requesting a federal disaster declaration. There are also state funds that may be available for public infrastructure needs through the Governor's emergency fund.

Until more details and costs are determined, communities will continue the cleanup.

"If you look at what Nebraskans do, they really pull together when there's a disaster like this," Ricketts said. "They help their neighbors and really work to get everybody back on their feet. It's really tremendous to see."

NEMA recommends anyone with storm damage to document it and track costs to help ensure financial assistance.

NEMA and local emergency management officials will begin to assess the damage next week.